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Oscar Mike Radio- Mark Clark · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

3:19
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Who are taking part in this ground breaking research?
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That's mvp.va.gov Thanks a lot. Hello and welcome again to OM
4:26
Radio. I'm Marine Corps veteran and
4:29
your host. My name is Travis.
4:30
OM Radio is part of the Hooba Zoo network.
4:33
You can find out more on hoobazoo.com.
4:37
I want to thank my sponsors, Joyce.
4:39
A Sack of a Sack Real estate. Army National Guard veteran Mark
4:43
Holmes, A Reapers, Italian Power Washing and my supporters Bone
4:48
Frog Warrior Apparel, Caisson Shaving Company, Black Cat
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Designs and Savage American Woodwork, all veteran owned
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businesses. Thank you.
4:59
It's November, right at or before Thanksgiving.
5:03
When we do this, it's a holiday time of year.
5:08
And I want to thank Michael Madsen.
5:09
The first he came on the good old Warrant Officer from
5:12
Georgia, great conversation, talked to command Sergeant
5:15
Major, very Smallwood. And now he's got me connected
5:19
with Mark Clark, who is Ava mortgage specialist.
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And I've got a lot to learn. So without any further ado,
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Mark, welcome to Oscar MIC Radio.
5:29
Thank you so much. Thanks.
5:31
Travis, I'm glad to be here. Yeah, yeah, I I I.
5:36
I have a lot to learn. There's a lot I don't know in
5:39
life. The older I get, the more I
5:41
realize I just, I don't know anything about anything.
5:44
I mean, I'm not swearing as a badge of honor, but I'm like,
5:46
man, it's just a lie. I don't know.
5:48
And I'm finding out that navigating you know, real
5:52
estate, especially during this time, there's a whole lot of
5:56
unknown. So I'm really glad you came with
5:58
me today. But while we get started.
6:03
You know, Do you have any military connection?
6:06
Do you? Do you You have the thank you
6:07
veterans. I like your your love and
6:09
everything. What's your connection to the
6:11
military? Please.
6:13
Yeah, I am not personally a veteran, but my I I guess you
6:17
could say my my first introduction was when I was very
6:22
young, we would take trips as a family and my dad would drive
6:28
our Winnebago and. When it was late at night and my
6:34
brother and my mom were back sleeping, I I'd want to go up
6:37
and sit in the the front seat and Co pilot with my dad and and
6:41
he would tell me his war stories from World War 2.
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Oh, wow. He was.
6:48
He was nearly fifty when I was born, so there's a little bit of
6:50
a gap there. I'm the youngest of 6 and so I I
6:54
had the opportunity to hear first hand stories.
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And they fascinated me and and so ironically there's a major
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difference between my mom and my dad and as far as years and both
7:06
my grandfather my maternal grandfather and my dad were in
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World War 2. Both served in the Pacific.
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Grandpa was Navy and my dad was army.
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So it was that's really what what really kind of started my
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interest and and. You know, just listening to his
7:23
stories, I'd have my dad teach it at my my children's schools
7:28
about World War 2 and put his stories up on YouTube.
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It's they were they were the Greatest Generation.
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Fantastic, fantastic. And.
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And it must have been really, you know, cool.
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Now, looking back to hear those stories right from your father.
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Not through a video game or a book or a movie, but.
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You know from from from your father himself.
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Yeah, you know, it's kind of the intensity of it really comes
7:58
through when you're hearing it first hand.
8:00
And he was never one to to brag. Much like most of that
8:05
generation, he didn't come out and just talk about his his
8:09
stories. But if you asked him then he
8:11
was, he'd be willing to share. And I'll never forget we took
8:16
him to Saving Private Ryan. And while that was the European
8:21
theater and he served in the Philippines, I'll never forget
8:25
the look on his face when we came out of that movie.
8:27
His face was white as a ghost. And he he said that was real,
8:33
that that the memories that just went through his head and and
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again the intensity with which. You know he he shared his
8:43
stories and and how he can remember seeing a kamikaze pilot
8:48
so close to his his ship that he can see the the the pilots girt
8:55
in his teeth like that and he'd actually share it like that and
8:58
man it it's it's impactful. Has to be, has to be you.
9:05
You grew up with that. Did you always grew up in the
9:07
Georgia area? No, I actually grew up in in
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Illinois, my dad. Get out of.
9:13
Me, right. Yeah.
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Yeah. Well, I I grew up in Illinois.
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OK, well I I was in Rockford. I grew up in Rockford.
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I don't know if. You know what That's that's,
9:21
yeah, Quad Cities, right? It's just South of Beloit, WI,
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so middle of the state, you know, just shot just short of
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Wisconsin there and my dad went to, you know, they they wanted
9:36
him. Him to progress from you know
9:40
his service in in World War 2 and and stay in the military and
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climb the ranks. And he he said he had had
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enough. He had seen enough carnage.
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He watched most of his his friends die and so you know he
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he had had enough. So anyway he wound up at at
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dental school at at Northwestern and then settled in Northern
10:02
Illinois and that's how we stayed there.
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I I grew up there. There until I went to college.
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I I grew up about an hour West of Peoria, IL.
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Farm country. I mean cornrows, soybeans, the
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whole 9. Yards.
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That was the heartland, right? You know, 40 degrees below 0.
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Because the wind chill was just brutal, right?
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It's it's flat. People don't understand how flat
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it is. So it is nice, nice, nice.
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How did you, you know, you go to college.
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You you, you graduate. Were you always interested in
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the mortgage business and and Realty as a as a whole or how
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did you get into that? No, I I was actually in the
10:47
manufacturing business of of health supplements and we sold
10:50
our company and then I'm kind of like what am I going to do now,
10:55
you know, no idea what I'm going to do and my wife.
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Had me drop something off at a friend's house and they're
11:03
they're just a small mom and pop mortgage brokerage and she asked
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me what I've been doing and and I caught her up on things and
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and she said whoa you ever thought about being a mortgage
11:16
loan officer. I'm like no it sounded miserable
11:20
to be honest with you because I'm not I'm not interested in
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finances. Money doesn't money doesn't
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motivate me. I I don't care about money, but
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A cause does and. I went home, didn't even think
11:32
about it again, but it all of a sudden it just kept coming back
11:35
to me over and over. What about this mortgage thing?
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And I'm like, no, I don't want to do that.
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And it would just pop into my brain randomly.
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And so I'm like, finally, OK, fine, I'll look into this.
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Everybody has their own belief system.
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But certainly I was being told something because I did not want
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to think about that. And so I I took the test and got
11:56
licensed. And then I'm like.
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What am I going to do now? You know what?
12:00
Scroll through my phone and just start calling friends and
12:03
family. That sounds miserable.
12:04
You know, cold calling people. That's miserable.
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You want a house now? You want a house now you?
12:09
Right, right. So I I didn't.
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So I joined this marketing group that that teaches how to how to
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cold call Realtors. They set up coffee appointments
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like OK, I got to start somewhere.
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Doesn't sound fun, but you know, start.
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It's a start. But they held these morning
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meetings on webinar. And a VA loan specialist came on
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one day and the light bulb went on and I'm like, OK, there's my
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cause. So I reached out to him and just
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so happens he was head of an organization that certifies loan
12:44
officers to be VA loan specialists.
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And and and and the rest is history.
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I mean, I was. All in because always had an
12:53
interest in helping veterans and and you know again just for my
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my history with my dad and it all clicked at that point.
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So I come full circle it it it was right and certainly I was
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being led to to something I was not aware of, even though I was
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kicking and screaming along the way, so.
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No problem with that. No problem with that.
13:19
Now what goes into? Becoming a certified VA level
13:24
specialist because there are different rules, I I know that
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much of what's involved. So really any anyone that's
13:33
licensed as a loan officer can can do with VA loans.
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I like to say just because you can doesn't mean you should
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though. You know, being a specialist,
13:49
most of us that are specialists. Breathe and sleep it every day
13:54
and you know there's no technical certifying body by the
14:01
VA, at least not at this point. I've you know, they've kind of
14:05
hinted towards they may do that, but at least at this point it's
14:09
non existent. So you have to go to these
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independent organizations that passionate people have set up.
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To certify you or you know, to take a class, being a
14:23
organization that that's what everybody focuses on is VA
14:27
loans. We're a small group in the grand
14:29
scheme of things. Most most loan officers and
14:31
lenders frankly don't really know what they're doing with the
14:35
VA loan. It's not hard.
14:37
Really. Yeah, it's not hard, but it is
14:40
different. It's very different.
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And if. If you're inside the box and
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everything just works out perfectly, anybody can do any
14:50
type of loan. But if you have one little
14:52
hiccup, they're going to have no clue how to navigate that
14:56
because the navigation of the VA loan is just different.
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Again, not difficult, but different.
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And so it can really trip, trip up a loan officer if they don't
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know how to navigate that. And next thing you know, they're
15:09
blaming the VA and. And then the veteran thinks the
15:12
VA, you know, has a problem and they can't get a loan, when
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really it's the lender that just doesn't know how to handle it.
15:21
One of the things that I've come across is, yeah, you know,
15:24
lenders won. But Realtors, especially the
15:28
minute you tell them, hey, I'm a veteran that I want to use my VA
15:31
loan, they're checked out. I, I, I, I not Joyce a sack my
15:37
sponsor. But I've had other Realtors tell
15:39
me they just move on. Because they don't feel one,
15:44
that it's worth their time. And two, the VA loan rules are
15:47
so restrictive that you know they can get a, you know, a
15:51
house with no home inspection, no this, no that slid right
15:55
through, whereas the the VA loan is more restrictive.
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That's what I understand. And so you know how.
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How are you supposed to use your VA benefit if the feeling is no
16:07
one wants to really work through the 1st place?
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Yeah, that's this is a great point and it's so important.
16:17
I've actually got a realtor in my market who literally in his
16:22
listings in the MLS states that VA and FHA are at the bottom of
16:27
the list of what they'll accept and it's it's an absolute
16:33
travesty. I I I don't.
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I don't know the legal aspects of that because I'm not an
16:38
attorney, but it sure sounds discriminatory to me.
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Education is the key, which is why.
16:46
Myself and other VA loan specialists throughout the
16:49
country, I teach CE courses here in Georgia to real estate agents
16:53
to dispel those myths, and everything I teach is backed up
16:56
by market data. This isn't Mark saying, hey, my
17:00
dad was a vet and touchy feely stories and while I'm happy to
17:05
share those, the market data says that the VA loan is the
17:08
best loan. It's the most liberal loan and
17:10
in fact has the lowest denial rate of all the loans from
17:16
application to. Loan process and acceptance.
17:18
So they're simply just mistaken and they're ignorant and
17:23
uneducated and they need to be educated.
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One thing that I think is important is that both Realtors
17:34
educate themselves and L OS and frankly unfortunately it it's
17:40
great for you as a veteran to also understand a little bit.
17:45
You shouldn't have to. You should be able to rely on
17:48
the professionals. But the sad part is you can't
17:52
unless, again, you know who you're working with and you know
17:55
they're a specialist and you know they know what they're
17:57
doing. I handle my veterans very
18:00
differently than most of my clients because because of this
18:07
issue, you have to do things a little bit differently.
18:10
Sure, sure, so. Do you do this as your own
18:14
company? Do you do it for another company
18:17
you know? How do you, you know, work in
18:18
the space and advocate effectively?
18:21
Yeah, I am employed here in Georgia.
18:26
You have to. It is required by law to be AW2
18:28
employee of a mortgage company. I am employed by Geneva
18:34
Financial and. Both myself and my branch and
18:39
branch manager are extremely VA heavy, which really helps my
18:43
branch manager. She's she's got a son in the
18:45
Navy and so you know it's it's our drive and focus And so you
18:51
know fortunately for me, my company is very VA friendly.
18:57
Not all companies are, and and those are questions that
19:01
veterans should be asking of their loan officers.
19:05
You know there there's a big disparity between companies and
19:11
how they handle VA loans. Some have you have the VA
19:17
guidelines and then you have overlays that companies can put
19:21
on top of the VA line guidelines.
19:24
So for instance, some may have a a rule that they that they
19:31
employ in their company for veterans.
19:34
But the VA doesn't And and as an example, the VA doesn't have a
19:38
DTI or debt to income ratio requirement.
19:41
There isn't one. But companies may put a
19:44
restriction on it at 50 or 55%. And so a loan officer may say,
19:50
oh you know to their veteran or or active duty member say oh
19:55
your DT is too high, you can't get a loan.
19:58
Well no that's not the case. They can't get on with your
20:01
company. They can get a loan from another
20:04
company that doesn't have that restriction.
20:06
And so it's really important to ask questions.
20:09
Do you have overlays as a as a company?
20:14
For some people that that may not be a problem because they're
20:16
Dtis. Oh, but for others, you know,
20:19
again, it just depends and so So there's a little bit of
20:25
difference between who you work with and what they can
20:27
accomplish. One of the things that comes up
20:30
a lot is. You know a lot of veterans
20:34
experience this is just I don't know if it's a demographic or us
20:38
or what happens Divorce what have you is you know credit
20:42
problems. There's always a way to say it.
20:44
You know they get into a hard time or you know, they're they
20:48
they they went out and bought that Mustang Camaro with 3%
20:52
interest and they have credit problems and and.
20:57
It it's it's my understanding for a lot of them that's that's
21:00
what keeps them from even trying to get a house.
21:03
They've got a rental. It's as good as it's going to
21:06
get. So why even bother because
21:08
they're just going to get denied anyway.
21:10
And I I get it from the business side.
21:14
You know, the the the housing crash earlier and what prompted
21:17
you know a lot of scrutiny. But, you know, I'm being told
21:20
now by some people that, hey, you know, there there's.
21:23
There's a well, there's a will, There's a way.
21:25
I mean, what's your take on that as someone's trying to navigate
21:28
this very it's it's a long process.
21:32
Yeah, that definitely can be a challenge with all L OS run into
21:37
people with credit challenges. One, let's just first say
21:42
there's nothing to be ashamed of because everybody has challenges
21:46
in life. So a good LO is going to say,
21:51
hey, I'm not going to tell you you can't buy a home.
21:53
It's not a no. I never tell somebody no.
21:56
But I may tell somebody there's more of a how and when do we
22:01
accomplish this? And some people have to work on
22:04
their credit it. There are credit repair
22:08
companies out there, some are good and some are not so good.
22:12
And that's again part of the challenge.
22:14
It confuses and the credit is is also an interesting issue with
22:23
the VA. Technically, the VA doesn't have
22:26
a credit requirement. There isn't one.
22:29
However, all lenders are going to have some sort of minimum
22:33
because they're the ones lending the money.
22:35
And so there's a risk factor and each company has a different
22:42
risk factor they're willing to be comfortable with.
22:44
My company goes down to 580. There are some that go down to
22:49
500. Now that doesn't automatically
22:53
mean you can get a loan because you're at five O 5 there.
22:57
There are other issues. You know if you have a bunch of
23:01
late payments I mean the VA does still have some they want to see
23:05
you on time with all your your payments for 12 months that's
23:09
where they consider you in good standing.
23:11
Are there a few one offs you can get away with and explain away
23:15
Sure but but the point is is credit is important.
23:22
I I I wish it wasn't such a heavy factor but it is And just
23:28
keeping up on your, on your you know monthly payments is huge
23:35
because if you can do that there's a lot more you can
23:39
overcome with the VA loan. If you stay on time with the
23:42
payments you can overcome high usage rate on credit cards.
23:46
You can overcome some of those other issues of bankruptcy in
23:48
the past, foreclosure in the past.
23:51
That doesn't negate your ability to to purchase a home with the
23:56
VA loan. I mean, of course every
23:59
individual is going to be different and so you need to
24:02
talk to. My suggestion is talk to a
24:04
mortgage specialist first. Don't talk to a realtor first.
24:08
Don't talk to a credit specialist first.
24:11
Talk to a loan specialist in the VA space first, then you can
24:18
talk to the others as needed. Now as you're talking, one thing
24:22
that that came to mind, Mark, I didn't take consideration before
24:26
we started talking is you're based in Georgia.
24:30
Now can you only work with people in Georgia because this
24:33
is a nationwide show and you know, somebody from Idaho may
24:37
call you, but I just, I just wanted to clarify that yeah, I
24:41
am licensed in Georgia and South Carolina, so I cannot help
24:45
somebody in Idaho That said, I will help a veteran anytime in
24:49
any way I can. I get calls or messages from,
24:54
you know, people that see me on social media or whatever the
24:56
case and it doesn't matter where they are, I will help them.
25:02
I can't necessarily do their mortgage, but I'll help them get
25:06
in touch with VSO if they need or if they want to purchase a
25:11
home in their state. I will get them in touch with
25:14
the VA specialist that I know and trust that will take care of
25:17
them and knows the VA loan very well.
25:21
I mean that that I had a client here that moved to Georgia and
25:25
then wanted to move back up north.
25:27
They missed the north and and I contacted one of my my
25:31
colleagues as a VA that's a VA own specialist and he was able
25:34
to help them out. So we're pretty well networked,
25:38
those that that are VA specialist and yeah we we can
25:43
get you taken care of no matter where you are.
25:46
So you know the the perspective buyers going through all this,
25:50
it's a very stressful time. I mean, I'm trying to figure out
25:54
where I want to be and and how I'm going to get there.
25:57
And it it it's, it's not fun. And the reason I say it's not
26:01
fun is you know you're you're starting a family or you're like
26:07
me looking for like a forever home or or just wanting to
26:11
downsize. And at least in my area there's
26:15
like nothing. And what's there is for, well, I
26:21
don't know how the real estate prices are in in your area, but
26:23
up here. It's not uncommon to find a home
26:26
in my town for 800,000 to 1.2 million.
26:30
Those are the only ones that are left.
26:32
Anything below 600,000 is bought before it even hits the market.
26:37
So a lot of us are saying, you know, what do you do?
26:41
Do you move? Do you check out?
26:43
Do you wait it out and you have some people?
26:47
Well, yes, 800,000, but just eat peanut butter or you know, buy
26:51
that fixer upper for $300,000 and and fixed up for the next
26:54
five years and you'll be fine. It's, it's a quagmire Mark.
26:58
It's a quagmire. And I don't know what to do
27:02
honestly I, I, I, I'm, I'm wrestling with this because
27:06
there's not a lot of options. It seems like yeah it's a tough
27:11
market no question about it. And and to be real blunt I think
27:16
the expectation it's going to be a tough market for probably
27:18
another year or so. This we actually had a drop in
27:23
home prices in in just the last few weeks.
27:26
I've noticed, you know, the question comes is, is it a good
27:34
time to buy? And theoretically I could say
27:38
it's always a good time to buy because homes always increase in
27:42
value over the history they increase in value.
27:45
But that's a little ignorant to just make a blanket statement
27:48
like that. I think each person has to
27:52
really understand their personal situation.
27:57
It's not the right time to buy for everybody.
28:01
If you're in financial position to do so, then as a general
28:05
rule, I'm going to say sure, it's a good time to buy because
28:09
over time it as long as you're going to be in a home for a
28:13
period of time. I mean if you think you could be
28:16
moving in the next year or two, sure, that's a little risky, no
28:22
question. But when you look at history and
28:25
over 7 year periods of time of keeping a home, it's always
28:29
increased in value even through the crash.
28:31
If you bought pre crash and then sold post crash, you had tons of
28:35
value in your home. So everything is individualistic
28:41
as as far as circumstances. But yeah, I mean I get it, home
28:45
prices are high and so are interest rates right now.
28:49
It's a challenge and I have, I have buyers that come into the
28:54
buying pool and drop out of the buying pool just because they
28:56
couldn't find what they wanted in in a home at at this in this
29:02
market. But you know, and every market's
29:07
a little different. I can't.
29:08
See what's the board, my market Most of my veterans are getting
29:13
seller concessions. If you're familiar with that, is
29:15
that's what it means. That's when the seller
29:18
concession is when the seller offers to pay some of the
29:20
closing costs for the buyer. And nearly all of my veteran
29:27
buyers are getting seller concessions.
29:29
If it's a couple thousand, it's a couple thousand.
29:31
I had one that had 20,000 seller concessions.
29:34
So you know there's there's still good deals out there in
29:43
certain markets at at the right times in the right places.
29:45
And what I would suggest is make sure you're in financial
29:50
position to make that payment and if you can, you'll be
29:54
refinancing into an ERL which is just the VA refinance rate
29:59
reduction loan. You'll be refinancing in the
30:02
next year or two or three Max probably and and you'll get a
30:07
better rate, but make sure the current payment works for you
30:12
and that you're you can be patient in purchasing and and
30:17
wait for that right situation for you.
30:20
Speaking of payment, you know I'm, I'm running the numbers and
30:25
I'm like you know I might have to cinch the belt a little bit,
30:29
but it just seems like Mark that I should focus on a 15 year note
30:36
versus a 20 and 30 year if I can do it and it it's, it's a
30:40
higher. Out of pocket per month expense,
30:44
absolutely. But it seems like, man, I am
30:47
saving a ton of money on interest and the time to, you
30:52
know, close a loan is is a lot. Am I seeing it right there?
30:58
No, you're 15 years going to be, I mean again if you can afford
31:03
that payment you're you're going to be paying far less in
31:07
interest and and likely your interest rate is going to be
31:10
lower also. So yeah, I mean if again if you
31:15
can take on that payment, go for it.
31:19
It's it's a better financial decision.
31:21
General the the reason I ask is you were sitting around with
31:25
some of the you know, veterans and I'm, you understand in this
31:28
crowd I'm the young whippersnapper, which is hard to
31:30
believe, but that's the truth. We debate things and you know go
31:34
with a 15 year note. No, no, no, no.
31:36
You should do the 30 year note and just pay the 15 year rate on
31:41
a 30 year note. And this is where I'm glad
31:44
you're on because I'm like, you know I'm not a I'm not a loan
31:48
specialist work I'm not but I'm hearing advice being thrown out
31:53
by other guys who are not. This is you could make a
31:57
decision based on what you hear that can affect your entire
32:02
life, right? Yeah yeah, my first suggestion
32:07
is 1 talk with a the A1 specialist.
32:11
And you are one. Stop.
32:13
Stop listening to you know, your cousin Eddie's story is about
32:19
when he bought a house in 1982, you know?
32:25
Yeah. Again, every, every situation is
32:31
different and I hate to make bank statements just because
32:35
what's good for you may not be good for somebody else.
32:38
And just to be really honest, most people try and push the
32:41
envelope because they want more home for their money and so
32:43
they're willing to stretch a little bit and they'd rather go
32:48
with that 30 year higher interest payment because they
32:52
can get a little more home. And so they're thinking more of
32:56
what do I get for my money as opposed to how am I more
33:00
financially savvy in this purchase.
33:03
And so, you know, I think it's important that you ask the
33:08
questions of your mortgage originator and look at the
33:13
different options, see what's going to make sense for you and
33:17
your situation and what payment works for you.
33:21
You know, you also want to be in a home that you're happy with.
33:26
So you you got to find that balance between your personal
33:30
finances and being in my opinion, conservative take care
33:35
of your you and your family's needs financially, but also be
33:38
happy with the home that that you're going to find joy in.
33:42
You know, studies show that people are happier and more
33:46
content that on homes. So I I don't know the causation
33:52
versus correlation on that, not a psychologist, but but the
33:56
studies show that and and so you know it is important to
34:02
understand both sides of it. Sure, sure.
34:07
So at a high level, what are what are some bullet point best
34:13
practices you know to buying a home as a veteran?
34:18
It sounds like 1. First and foremost, talk to Ava
34:21
certified loan specialist to get your finances order or at least
34:27
understand where you are financially and then it seems
34:30
like you have to decide you know what you can afford long term.
34:36
Is there anything else that you got to do during this trying
34:40
time? I'm a big believer of of
34:46
listening to your gut. I know that may sound odd but
34:49
usually you know and and I'm not talking about, you know, hey,
34:55
I've got big eyes for having a really nice house, that little
34:58
voice. But the inner voice, you know
35:02
going, you know, I don't there's something not feeling right
35:07
about that particular house or whatever.
35:11
Also let me just back up to something I want to say.
35:13
I am certified by by an organization.
35:17
I know a lot of VA loan specials that aren't technically
35:20
certified, but they are really good at what they do.
35:24
It just depends on whether you, which organization you you
35:27
you're with on whether they actually offer a certification
35:31
or not. But, but asking the right
35:34
questions is the most important thing.
35:38
So yeah, knowing the right questions to ask I think is, is
35:43
really the key. Again, being educated and and
35:48
the challenge comes is there's so much bad data out there.
35:52
Where do you turn? You know there's I I can go to
35:56
the Google right now and there's actually loan companies that put
36:02
out information that is actually incorrect on the VA loan and and
36:07
aren't correct guidelines. And so I'm in professional real
36:14
estate groups and loan officer groups.
36:16
And often times in these groups, somebody will ask a question.
36:21
And it's shocking how much bad data flies around, even amongst
36:25
industries, quote professionals. And.
36:30
And so it's really important to ask the right questions that
36:34
pertain to you and your situation and make sure that
36:38
they understand the VA process and also understanding, you
36:42
know, you. I think you have to understand
36:48
who you are. And I had AI worked with a
36:52
veteran. She was in her 70s, wanted to
36:56
move to Georgia, had a small little kind of farm up north and
37:02
was just getting too old to take care of it.
37:05
She has MST or military sexual trauma and she's bipolar now.
37:12
It takes somebody with a certain type of temperament to work with
37:15
her. I mean, we had 40 minute cry
37:17
sessions, Sweet lady. But you know, she had some some
37:23
challenges and she knew it too. She was a wonderful person.
37:26
But know yourself, if you need somebody that's going to be
37:32
patient with you, make sure that patient, that person is going to
37:34
work with you. Hold your hand through the whole
37:36
process and talk to you. If you are somebody that you
37:41
know has all your finances in a row and you just need somebody
37:45
to kind of handle the loan because they're licensed and you
37:49
are well versed, then find that right person for you.
37:54
You know who you work with is really important.
37:58
Yeah, and and they really should match your needs.
38:03
Speaking of needs being matched, I mean this is a people based
38:07
business with the you know it's it's about getting the loan,
38:10
getting the money, getting the house.
38:11
But it it's about people. So you've you've had to work
38:15
with a lot of different people in a lot of different
38:17
situations. Is there anybody else besides
38:20
veterans that you haven't finished you toward or you get
38:23
their kind of outreach you do, you know?
38:26
Professionally or Personally, Mark Yeah, I So outside of
38:33
veterans, I just like working with people that are looking for
38:38
somebody to to work with them, hold their hand through the
38:40
process, educate them. I like to be involved with my
38:44
clients. That's that's how I work
38:46
personally. But also inside the veteran
38:49
community I'm on the board of of Genesis Joy House, which is.
38:53
The What's that? Yeah, Justice Joy House is the
38:56
only all female veteran shelter for the unhoused.
39:04
And we do a lot of community outreach.
39:07
So we're a hand up, not a hand out.
39:11
It's a program. It's not an overnight stay.
39:14
We do background checks, drug tests, and we are putting female
39:18
veterans back on their feet and back into society.
39:22
And we so we have programs help them find jobs, help them find
39:28
longer term housing, help them with their finances, help them
39:32
with their resume, whatever it is they particularly need.
39:37
We have counselors on staff and any veteran, male or female, can
39:46
work through our resources. But the shelter for, you know,
39:49
living is only for females. Females are 250% more likely to
39:58
commit suicide than civilian females.
40:02
They're four times greater to be homeless compared to male
40:06
veterans. One in three has military sexual
40:09
trauma. So the struggle's real, You know
40:14
that's not to negate the male veteran, because they have their
40:18
challenges too. But there's there's a lot of
40:22
shelters, military Mike involved in one over in Monroe GA
40:29
operation Rally Point. Great organization for for all
40:32
types of veterans. But yeah that's that's a passion
40:37
for me. I met the founder, ironically I
40:40
was on my way to be on a panel on Ava at Ava conference in
40:44
Dallas and she just happened to be on the same flight going to
40:50
visit grandkids and asked me if she could plug in her phone next
40:54
to me. And we struck up the
40:56
conversation and next thing you know I'm, I'm joining the board
41:01
of Genesis Joy House and it's been a real blessing.
41:05
Yeah there's there's there's many who struggle and and it's
41:10
it's it's hard to watch. Well, I'll certainly put that
41:14
link in the Oscar mic radio show post.
41:15
People can learn about their mission, you know, from my
41:19
knowledge of female veterans and female veterans need meeting
41:24
needs or is is the largest growing demographic of course in
41:28
in the Veterans Administration. You know, data that shows and
41:33
you know, there's needs that need to be met.
41:36
So the fact you're doing this is really commendable.
41:38
Which listen to my next thing you know.
41:43
You have to give it yourself. You, you people can't really
41:45
see. It's like you're building a
41:47
house or working on a car or it's intangible, right?
41:53
So you get to the end of the work day, the end of the work
41:56
week, you know, I don't know if you're a Georgia fan or not.
41:59
I'm an LSU fan. But you get to game day.
42:04
Do you look back on the week and think, you know, I, I, I did
42:07
some good today. What's the most rewarding part
42:11
of of your career Mark seeing the joy on on you know I'm I'm
42:23
I'm working with a veteran right now that he's been denied by
42:32
multiple vendors because they were they were restrictive and
42:40
knowing that we can get this this veteran into a home who's
42:43
going to bring his his dying father into his home that's
42:48
rewarding. Seeing a female unhoused veteran
42:58
that goes through our program at Genesis Joy House and comes out
43:01
the other end with a job and a place to live, you know that's
43:07
that's rewarding. Getting a phone call or a text
43:13
from a veteran really excited because I introduced him to
43:17
military Mike who who helped him get their benefits.
43:22
You know they struggled for whatever reason to file a claim
43:27
and got a check in the mail for 20 grand three months after they
43:33
closed on their house, which was a a refund on their funding fee.
43:38
Those you can't put a price on that again, you know the money
43:45
doesn't get me up out of my bed. But man, seeing that and the
43:50
struggle's real, I mean, don't get me wrong, some of these,
43:54
some of these loans or some of these young ladies that that
43:58
come in and out of Joy House. It's hard.
44:01
Sometimes the days can be hard and it's emotional
44:05
rollercoaster, and sometimes you want to pull your hair, hair out
44:08
and wonder why you're doing this.
44:10
But there's there's that reward to see the joy in their in their
44:15
faces or hear it in their voice when they call or see it at the
44:19
closing table when they're signing documents for their
44:22
first home that they never thought they'd get.
44:24
You know, seeing that that young female that that gets into a a
44:32
permanent home from being unhoused because she was in a
44:38
bad relationship and had to leave quickly and needed our our
44:42
program to get her back on her feet, there's no price you can
44:47
put on that, no. So in a way, you know your your
44:52
father served his country and and in a way you served you're
44:57
serving now and I want to bring this up because a lot of
45:01
civilians like yourself asked me what can I do?
45:06
And you know what would if I, if I wanted to understand the
45:11
veteran world would I be accepted or what could Ioffer
45:14
And I'm like we all can serve in our own way.
45:18
We all can add value in our own way And and you know closing
45:23
this down, I mean you're doing that right.
45:26
I mean these people are going to have homes.
45:28
We study them the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which was
45:31
goes to shelter. Being the primary foundation of
45:34
that triangle, right. And and you're providing that.
45:38
You know, I'd have to think that you know your father your family
45:41
are are very proud of the work you're doing.
45:46
Well thank you. It's it is a labor of love.
45:52
I teach my CE course. I teach the real estate agents
45:58
how to get more veteran clients and the answer is fairly simple.
46:02
Get involved. Just get involved in any way.
46:06
You don't have to dive in the deep end like I did, you know,
46:11
whatever level you can do, do. It's really interesting.
46:17
Yeah, I think most of us that are civilians that jump into
46:20
this space surely have that hesitance because we're not
46:29
veterans. And what I've learned through
46:31
this process is you just need to care.
46:35
You just need to show kindness and compassion and empathy.
46:39
I will never understand what a war veteran went through, but I
46:45
can't show him empathy and show him respect and love and
46:47
kindness. And if you do those things, you
46:53
know you're you're going to, you're going to be able to
46:58
relate to them in some way and they will relate to you and they
47:01
will be grateful for your efforts.
47:04
Absolutely. I'm just grateful.
47:07
I I I feel. I feel it a privilege.
47:15
It's yeah, I I have the gratitude at the end of the day.
47:20
But it's it's never I've never felt a a pat on my own back
47:28
because because I did this or that for a veteran.
47:32
I I I'm the one who feels privileged to work with the
47:34
veterans. You know what what I feel in
47:39
some way I'm I'm showing a little gratitude for what my
47:47
father went through and the challenges he faced in his life
47:53
from being a a veteran. I know, I know, World War 2
47:57
veteran. You know, I don't know how else
48:02
to say it. I'm just grateful.
48:04
Well, I mean, again, it's a lot of civilians.
48:10
You want to help veterans want support, active duty, especially
48:14
now with everything going on. And it's like how do you do it
48:17
And and so this lesson of, you know, getting involved, you
48:22
don't have to dive right in. You can get involved.
48:24
You can help you can you can talk to and then you know
48:28
understand that you're making really impactful change in
48:31
people's lives. I think that's you know, the
48:34
mortgage stuff was great, Mark. I really I learned a lot lot of
48:38
stuff I didn't know. But I think for a a wider
48:41
audience whether they're in Georgia or South Carolina or you
48:44
know Hawaii, I think that message you, you you conveyed is
48:48
needs to be heard. So.
48:51
I will have all the links to the Genesis Joy House and Geneva
48:55
Financial and in your link and also my Rio Show post.
48:59
What's the best way people can contact you to, you know,
49:04
interact with you? Yeah, in this digital age.
49:08
You can find me Veteran Mortgage Wingman on Tiktok Instagram Mark
49:12
Mark A Clark on on Facebook. I do have a Google Business set
49:17
up under Veteran Mortgage Wingman.
49:20
You may have to link it to Georgia as well and state that
49:23
but. Or you can just reach me at
49:27
e-mail me at mark.casincharlie@genevaphifi.com
49:36
Geneva Phi. Dot com.
49:38
I will have those links. I got to check out your TikTok.
49:42
I didn't do that, but I'm going to check it out because I'm
49:44
trying to figure that platform out.
49:46
I'll have those links, the Oscar Microbial show post folks, you
49:48
can get a hold of Mark, especially if you're in the
49:50
Georgia and South Carolina area. And you know if you're if you're
49:55
Michael Madsen approved, you must be doing something right.
49:57
So please tell him I said hello. Love that guy.
50:01
How can you not, right? I know such a good guy.
50:05
Absolutely. Absolutely.
50:07
Well, I am trapped with OM radio talking with Mark Clark of
50:11
veterans, wingman versus mortgage wingman.
50:14
Excuse me. And I've had a great time.
50:18
Mark, I've. I've learned a lot.
50:20
Wish you all the best. I might be getting down to
50:22
Georgia in 2024, so if I get your way, definitely like to
50:26
meet up. We would love that.
50:29
Hey, you, you. You can learn something.
50:31
You can increase your knowledge. You can move your life forward.
50:34
I want to thank Mark again. As we say now, it's Michael
50:36
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